Boylan, 25, claimed the Southern Area at the ExCeL Arena with a fourth round stoppage of fellow Carshalton fighter Tony Owen. He will now defend the title against mandatory challenger John Wayne Hibbert in London in the spring, and is excited to have joined Hearn’s stable of British stars.

“It's a great achievement for me to join the best stable in Britain,” said Boylan.

“I've worked hard my whole career to get to this point and it's paid off. I have to keep working hard though which I will do, and this promises to be a big year for me.

“I'm looking at the English and British titles of course. I'll be getting really good exposure and that's important to build my profile up, so I'd like to be knocking on the door of the British title by the end of the year after defending the Southern Area title and hopefully winning the English.

“I perforated my eardrum against Tony so that has to heal up but I'm in training keeping fit and I know that Eddie wants to keep me busy with six fights this year, I'll be able to box late February or early March and I’m looking to really hit the ground running.”

Boylan’s new promoter Hearn has big plans in 2014 and believes the light welter division is one to watch this year.

“I'm delighted to welcome Ricky Boylan to the team,” said Hearn.

“He is an exciting young fighter and one of the biggest ticket sellers in the country. We are investing in the 140lb division here and have already signed British Champion Darren Hamilton who will defend against Curtis Woodhouse in Hull on February 22.

“We have big plans for Olympic captain Tom Stalker as well as Prizefighter champion Chris Jenkins and now Ricky joins that mix.”